Pendulum game

ABSTRACT

A pendulum game that includes a plurality of obstruction sticks that extend upwardly of a base and are mounted for movement longitudinally of the base. The obstruction sticks are in intersecting relation with and movable past a plurality of spaced pendulums that oscillate in planes that are transverse to the path of movement of the obstruction sticks.

United States Patent Walker 1 July 3,1973

3/1972 Beam 273/95 A ll/1972 Smith 273]] R Primary Examiner-Richard C.Pinkham Assistant Examiner-Paul E. Shaprio Attorney-D. Paul Weaver eta1.

57 ABSTRACT A pendulum game that includes a plurality of obstructionsticks that extend upwardly of a base and are mounted for movementlongitudinally of the base. The obstruction sticks are in intersectingrelation with and movable past a plurality of spaced pendulums that ascillate in planes that are transverse to the path of movement of theobstruction sticks.

8 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures Patented July 3, 1973' FIG. 2

PENDULUM GAME BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION U.S. Pat. No. 3,312,470 showsa pendulum game which is played by moving objects past a moving pendulumwithout hitting the pendulum.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The object of this invention is to provide apendulum game, which also relies on the principle of moving an objectpast a moving pendulum, which is simple in construction and yet providesa game that is stimulating to the player and requires the development ofskills and quick reflexes on the part of the player.

The game includes an obstruction stick movably mounted on a base formovement past a plurality of osciallating pendulums. The obstructionstick is in intersecting relation with the pendulums, and the game isplayed by trying to move the obstruction stick past the pendulumswithout hitting the pendulums. Unlike the game of US. Pat. No.3,312,470, in this invention, the obstruction stick is guided formovement in a prescribed path past the pendulums; and there are a plurality of spaced pendulums, thus requireing the player to exercise skill inguiding the obstruction stick so that it pauses between pendulums andyet move past the pendulums without hitting the pendulums.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a side elevation view of thegame; and FIG. 2 is a front isometric view of the game.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A base has a longitudinallyextending slot 12 extending therethrough that intersects its top. A pairof posts 14 extend upwardly of the opposite longitudinal ends of thebase 10 adjacent the slot 12. A mounting block 16 is mounted to the topof each post 14, and a rod 18 is mounted at its ends to the blocks 16 soas to extend between the blocks over the slot 12. A plurality ofpendulums 20, herein illustrated as four pendulums, are pivotallymounted to the rod 18 at spaced intervals to depend therefrom, eachpendulum being located between a pair of stop blocks 22 that are affixedto the rod 18. The stop blocks thus serve to constrain the pendulums 20against movement longitudinally of the rod 18 while permitting thependulums to swing about the axis of the rod 18 in planes that aretransverse to the longitudinal axes of the rod 18 and the slot 12. Aknob 24 is located at the bottom of each pendulum 20. A slide 26, havinga desired number of obstruction sticks 28 (herein illustrated as two)upstanding from one end thereof, is slidably mounted in the slot 12 formovement longitudinally of the slot. The pendulums 20 are so dimensionedthat the arcs of movement defined by their lowermost portions are at alower level than the tops of the obstruction sticks 28 and at a higherlevel than the top of the slide 26 so that the pendulums may intersectthe obstruction sticks, but cannot intersect the slide 26 or the base10. The longitudinal axes of the rod 18 and the path of movement of theslide 26, and thus the obstruction sticks 28, are substantiallyparallel.

In the operation of the game, the slide 26 is initially so located inthe slot 12 that the obstruction sticks are located outwardly of all ofthe pendulums 20. The pendulums 20 are then caused to oscillate aboutthe axis of the rod 18 in any desired manner.

A preferred manner of causing oscillation of the pendulums is to threada dowel 30 between the pendulum tops that extend upwardly of the rod 18and the tops of the stop blocks 22 so that certain of the pendulums areon one side of the dowel and the remaining pendulums are on the otherside of the dowel. The dowel may then be forced down against the blocks22 to cause the pendulums to swing about the rod 18 and then be quicklyraised so that the pendulums will commence to oscillate.

The object of the game is to move the slide 26 in the slot 12 so thatthe obstruction sticks 28 can move past the oscillating pendulums 20without striking any of the pendulums. The game may incorporate ascoring system that is based on the number of oscillating pendulums'cleared by the obstruction sticks 28 during the movement of theobstruction sticks 28 past the oscillating pendulums. Since the arc ofoscillation of the pendulums diminish with the passage of time, theplayers score will depend on his ability to move the obstruction sticks28 quickly past each of the oscillating pendulums.

If the game is being played by a plurality of players, the scoringsystem may incorporate a score for each try by each player that isproportional to the number of pendulums cleared by the obstructionsticks. The first player to reach a predetermined score after an equalnumber of tries by .each of the players would win the game. i

I claim:

1. A pendulum game comprising: a base; at least one obstruction stickupstanding from the base mounted for movement in a path that extendslongitudinally of the base; a plurality of spaced pendulums locatedabove the base; and means pivotally mounting each pendulum foroscillating movement in a plane that is transverse to said path, thependulums being so dimensioned that the arc of movement of the bottomsof the pendulums are lower than the top of the obstruction stick.

2. The game according to claim 1 further comprisng: a rod mounted abovethe base over said path to which said pendulums are pivoted.

3. The game according to claim 1 further comprising: a longitudinallyextending slot in said base; and a slide mounted in the slot formovement longitudinally of the slot, said obstruction stick beingmounted to said slide so as to extend upwardly thereof.

4. The game according to claim 3 further comprising: a rod mounted abovethe base on a longitudinal axis that is parallel to the longitudinalaxis of said slide, said pendulums being pivoted to said rod.

5. The game according to claim 4 further comprising: a pair of postsextending upwardly from the opposite longitudinal ends of the base, theends of said rod extending between and being mounted to said posts.

6. The game according to claim 5 further comprising: a plurality ofpairs of spaced stop blocks affixed to said rod between each of which apendulum is pivoted to said rod.

7. The game according to claim. 6 wherein said pendulums extend upwardlyof said rod and said stop blocks and further comprising: a dowel that isthreadable between the tops of the pendulums so that it may be moveddownwardly against the tops of the stop tween each of which a pendulumis pivoted to said rod, the tops of said pendulums extending upwardly ofsaid rod above the tops of said stop blocks; and a dowel that isthreadable between the tops of the pendulums so that it may be moveddownwardly against the tops of the stop blocks and then quickly raisedto effect oscillation of the pendulums.

1. A pendulum game comprising: a base; at least one obstruction stickupstanding from the base mounted for movement in a path that extendslongitudinally of the base; a plurality of spaced pendulums locatedabove the base; and means pivotally mounting each pendulum foroscillating movement in a plane that is transverse to said path, thependulums being so dimensioned that the arc of movement of the bottomsof the pendulums are lower than the top of the obstruction stick.
 2. Thegame according to claim 1 further comprisng: a rod mounted above thebase over said path to which said pendulums are pivoted.
 3. The gameaccording to claim 1 further comprising: a longitudinally extending slotin said base; and a slide mounted in the slot for movementlongitudinally of the slot, said obstruction stick being mounted to saidslide so as to extend upwardly thereof.
 4. The game according to claim 3further comprising: a rod mounted above the base on a longitudinal axisthat is parallel to the longitudinal axis of said slide, said pendulumsbeing pivoted to said rod.
 5. The game according to claim 4 furthercomprising: a pair of posts extending upwardly from the oppositelongitudinal ends of the base, the ends of said rod extending betweenand being mounted to said posts.
 6. The game according to claim 5further comprising: a plurality of pairs of spaced stop blocks affixedto said rod between each of which a pendulum is pivoted to said rod. 7.The game according to claim 6 wherein said pendulums extend upwardly ofsaid rod and said stop blocks and further comprising: a dowel that isthreadable between the tops of the pendulums so that it may be moveddownwardly against the tops of the stop blocks and then quickly raisedto effect oscillation of the pendulums.
 8. The game according to claim 1further comprising: a pair of posts extending upwardly from the oppositelongitudinal ends of the base; a mounting block mounted to the top ofeach post; a rod extending between and mounted to said mounting blocks;a plurality of pairs of spaced stop blocks affixed to said rod betweeneach of which a pendulum is pivoted to said rod, the tops of saidpendulums extending upwardly of said rod above the tops of said stopblocks; and a dowel that is threadable between the tops of the pendulumsso that it may be moved downwardly against the tops of the stop blocksand then quickly raised to effect oscillation of the pendulums.